US embassy cable - 03THEHAGUE1739

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 001739 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/02/2013 
TAGS: ECON, ETRD, EU, MARR, NL, PREL, PTER 
SUBJECT: DUTCH PM BALKENDE OUTLINES AGENDA 
 
 
Classified By: AMB. CLIFFORD SOBEL FOR REASONS 1.5 (B)(D) 
 
1.  (C) On June 30, Amb Sobel and Dutch PM Jan Peter Balkende 
discussed their objectives. The Prime Minister listed three 
issues on which he personally wanted to lead his new 
government:  values, innovation, and the 2004 EU presidency. 
In the Fall, the PM will begin traveling to capitals to 
prepare the Dutch presidency.  Preliminarily, the Dutch have 
cited several political issues they expect to dominate their 
presidency, including relations with new members, ESDP 
(especially since they will follow the Irish), the 
transatlantic relationship, and a decision on whether to open 
negotiations with Turkey.  "Values" is an important issue to 
this Christian-Democrat Prime Minister and one that resonated 
in his election.  Amb Sobel pointed out the similarity of 
Prime Minister Balkenende's vision with that of President 
Bush's and offered to arrange briefings on the President's 
faith based initiatives.  Similarly, Amb Sobel noted the 
symmetry between the prime minister's innovation council and 
ideas current in the USG and society. 
 
2. (C) Ambassador Sobel told the Prime Minister of the 
embassy's ambitious agenda, ranging from innovation and the 
transatlantic business dialogue to security, 
counter-terrorism and HIV.  He discussed a trade mission to 
Silicon Valley aimed at developing trade and investment 
between our two countries, a dialogue among CEOs on trade in 
financial services, additional steps we can take to develop 
the Container Security project at the port of Rotterdam, his 
vision for joint projects to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa, the 
necessity of the Netherlands making progress on 
counter-narcotics, steps we can take to expand exchange 
programs between the U.S. and The Netherlands, and the 
importance of the Dutch keeping their commitments to NATO, 
including their ability to deploy and sustain forces even in 
the face of severe budget cuts. 
SOBEL